An App for Builders

Construction Instruction-HD offers on-the-job advice on building materials and techniques with a smartphone or tablet

Mobile help for builders. A free app that runs on any mobile device, Construction Instruction-HD has a deep library of information on construction techniques and building materials.

A group of building consultants has developed a free app for mobile devices intended to provide detailed information on building techniques and materials.

Content on Construction Instruction-HD, or Ci, includes silent animations explaining a variety of building techniques, a directory of building products organized by manufacturer, articles, a news section, and a video library. It was introduced in an article by Fernando Pages Ruiz at Fine Homebuilding in June.

The app is an offshoot of Construction Instruction, a firm that provides on-site training, classroom seminars, and construction defect diagnosis. Consultants Justin Wilson and Mark LaLiberte were looking for a way of making information accessible to builders in the field, and came up with the idea of building a mobile app.

In June, Ruiz wrote that Ci had been downloaded more than 120,000 times and had an active community of 64,000 regular subscribers. Its media director is Dan Morrison, the former executive editor of Fine Homebuilding who also helped launch Green Building Advisor.

Ci can be downloaded at iTunes, Amazon and Google Play, and it works on any mobile device. According to Morrison, the app automatically senses the device it's being viewed on, whether it's connected via wi-fi or a cellular network, and the quality of the reception. "This means that videos load faster and play better than on YouTube or other websites," Morrison said in an email.

There are more than 100 technical articles and building science videos that complement the directory of silent animations, Morrison said.